7 lab beagles walk free for the first time

The pooches have been freed for adoption after spending up to seven years in cages at a laboratory, where they were used for experimentation.

The nonprofit Beagle Freedom Project negotiated with the unidentified lab near the Texas-Mexico border for the dogs' releases. The dogs were freed Tuesday night.

A statement issued by the group earlier Tuesday says more than 65,000 dogs are captives in labs nationwide, 96 percent of them beagles. The breed is preferred because of their docile, friendly nature, but very few survive their time in research as most laboratories summarily euthanize the dogs.